If I Could Have Done Things Differently, In the First Place

Whew!  What a lot of work the kids and I put into the play room today.  They were troopers, working for 3 sessions of 45 minutes with the promise of a 15 minute break each session.  We were able to purge some of the toys, and I was definitely proud of my oldest daughter for being willing to part with some less-than-stellar objects.

I'll post pictures in the next couple of days, showing how we did each part.  But for now, this is a note about what I would have done differently, back when we first started organizing kids' toys.

Several years ago, when we moved into a house that was large enough to accommodate some new and much needed toy storage for our oldest daughter, I found some wood shelving units, Pottery Barn knock-offs, at Target.  I was pleased to find something in real wood rather than MDF, as the dreaded shelf sag comes from MDF (see, I'm married to a structural engineer, so I know these things).  But I was also pleased that it was something I could assemble myself and didn't cost very much (see, I'm married to a structural engineer who can actually build durable and inexpensive stuff--but sometimes that just makes it so he has more on his "to-do" list than he wants).

The baskets were affordable and worked nicely, so I scooped up several of those, too.

Now, three kids later, our toys have expanded to include building blocks, baby toys and tween stuff.  But because Target is all about knock-offs and trends, they don't have the same baskets any more, nor do they have similar wood shelves.  Instead, their toy storage looks more like the Billy system from Ikea, and since I'm lucky enough to have an Ikea in town, I'm left wondering why I would purchase inexpensive Ikea stuff from Target when I can actually purchase inexpensive Ikea stuff from Ikea.  Still, switching systems at this point seems futile, as I'm grasping the idea of how short-lived childhood actually is.

Image from Pottery Barn Kids

So, if I were to start all over again, I'd go with the Pottery Barn system.  I love the warm looks of the baskets and the shelves.  But since we didn't have any more money then than we do now, I'd also be a lot more savvy about searching classified ads in newspapers or on craigslist.org.  On my local classified source right now I can find a Pottery Barn shelf (real wood) similar to the Target shelves I have for $75, which is probably what I paid originally but of course is better quality. I'd be more resourceful about hitting the Goodwill, too.

For now, I've reached the conclusion that, as much as I would like my life to look like a catalog, real life is a little bit messier. As much as I'd like all my baskets to match, the money it would cost to even things up isn't worth risking my financial future or filling up the landfill (or thrift store) with my castoffs.  My children don't play checkers on a surf board, but I wouldn't exchange them for the world.

Are there any things you would do differently, organization-wise, now that you're a little older?  Feel free to share them in the comments!

Once Again, the Playroom

I just returned from a fantastic vacation in our pop-up trailer and realized, again, that our kids have too many toys (is there a mom in our country who doesn't actually do battle with the toys in her house?). So this week's project will be to re-sort and re-organize the playroom.

First, the plan, or "starting with the end in mind" as Steven Covey would have us do (and Peter Walsh, too).

What we're after:
1. A space for play that includes a system for easily cleaning up.
2. Making better use of the toys that we already own (as a former educator, I'm passionate about purchasing toys that, at least as I see it, help my kids develop their minds).
3. Reduces the amount of on-going work that I have to do.
4. Following Julie Morgenstern, is a space that can be cleaned up by anyone, in under 10 minutes (that may not be her actual time-designation, but it's my version of it).

To that end, I've made a list of the things that need doing by the end of the week.

1. Gather the toys from the four corners of the earth and group them according to type (throwing out, of course, the broken ones and the ones that are missing pieces).  Find some to donate, too.
2. Decide which ones will go into more long-term storage (this is a system that I already do, following the idea that every 6 months we switch the Lincoln Logs for the wood blocks [except I don't seem to actually get to it every 6 months]), but this time around I'm increasing the amount that is stored and making them easier for the kids to switch one toy out for another one).
3. Find boxes, on the cheap, for the long-term storage items, and for anything new.
4. Create labels for the toys and a way for the kids to swap out labels as they swap out toys.
5. Put everything back into its place, and give the room a good cleaning.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear about how YOU sort through the kids' toys. . . go ahead and leave a comment (even if it's just to let me know you stopped by).